So it’s $10 for a BJ, $12 for an HJ, $15 for a ZJ…
What’s a ZJ?
If you have to ask, big man, you can’t afford it.
This concept popped into my head last night when I was brushing my teeth. Antigen and I were talking about a lifting contest we will host here on the site, and I thought about ego lifters.
Ego lifters are folks who a) are under the impression that everyone else in the gym gives a shit about what they are doing, b) think it’s a good idea to do one more set or make one more jump in weight, or c) unintelligibly make a huge jump in weight typically followed by a complete failure.
Coaching, by definition, shouldn’t be ego driven. Coaches want the most out of their lifters, especially in competition, but knowing when to challenge their lifter is important. For example, let’s say I have the squat attempts planned out for “Timmy” in his fourth power meet. I will usually have a “best case scenario” and “not as good case scenario” attempts written out. Let’s say Timmy hits his second squat at 502, and we wanted to go to 524. Well, if that 502 was harder than it should be (because he had to cut weight, because of a bad taper, because he didn’t sleep — any random reason), I might say, “All right, Timmy, do you want to go to 513 or 524?” knowing that I may choose 513 and not the original 524 since 502 was a grinder. If he hesitates in his answer, then I already know my answer: 513. If he says “524” right off the bat, then I know he has confidence that he can get it. In this case, confidence and adrenaline may summon the demons to hit that 524, but if Timmy isn’t confident in it when asked, then it most likely isn’t gonna happen.
If a lifter has to ask himself, “Can I make this jump?” or “Should I get one more set?”, then he probably can’t afford it. When training, I advise you to think about what the goal is for the day. Are you trying to get some accumulated volume? Then three sets of five is probably enough, especially if the third set was kinda tough. Are you trying to keep the volume down? Then don’t do another set if you’ve done a 3×5. If you were keeping the volume down and trying to get some intensity, it’s relative. If you hit your minimum goal of, say, 425 for a double after doing 405 and 415 for doubles, then a fourth double will be superfluous.
If you have to ask, big man, you can’t afford it.
In what fucked up world does an HJ cost more than a BJ?
So what you’re saying is, an HJ costs more than a BJ? That can’t be right.
haha. Puke and I on the same page.
Great post.
By your definition Im a meathead ego lifter.
I think the problem is that I look forward to lifting so much, I let my enthusiasm carry me away. I lift by myself and my girlfriend couldnt give two shits what I lift, so its no bro-brag scenario.
This has led to a shredded pec muscle and constant back issues.
I lift smart…S-Mart now.
I was ego lifter “C” at my last meet (the one I did the write up for). My opener felt harder than it should have been and I even thought about going to the table and changing my second attempt, but I convinced myself that I could handle the jump to 545.5lbs since I did a workout with a 540lbs and a 545lbs single a week before and since I signed up for only the deadlift so I was fresh. It would have been good to have someone there to objectively go through the different factors. Going 1 out of 3 sucked.
What/When is the planned lifting competition? It seemed like last year there was some sort of challenge every month.
In the one powerlifting meet I’ve participated in several guys missed their opening squats and one guy missed his opener 3 fricking times. He had super huge knee wraps and all this crap too. I really felt bad for him.
So say my plan was to do 5×5 for volume most Mondays as long as I’m making gains, per TM instructions, but this one Monday the third set was super brutal for whatever reason. I know I could get the 4th and 5th set, but it will take every ounce of discipline in my body. And the rest of the training session could suffer from the fatigue brought on by the squats. Should I just move on and not squat a 4th and 5th set? Sometimes when I get to that point I think about what you wrote in TM about how some days it’s just a real grind and you have to deal with it.
In other words, even in training I should determine what to attempt based on how stuff feels (without being a wuss of course), instead of just sticking to the program? So most weeks I’ll do 5×5 but every now and then it’ll be 3×5? I’m just asking becuase damn 5×5 squat day sucks big time, but I’m always glad I did it because I’ve convinced myself it’s necessary to improve. My goal is to be as big and strong as possible as quickly as possible.
@meatpotato
Nice AoD reference.
BRB. Going to go hop on a cycle, then shimmy into my squat briefs and squat a Volkswagon. WESTSIDE!
Yeah, I narrowly avoided doing this last Friday. I squatted 425×3 three Fridays ago, then 435×3 two Fridays ago, then last Friday I spent my whole warmup debating whether to make anther 10lb jump or just do 440×3. I’m glad I decided to stick with 440, because it was pretty damn hard.
Are chicken wings and patty melts a part of the 70’s big diet? Just curious.
Chicken Wings are an integral part of every diet.
I do not know what a patty melt is.
@Yosh I did literally the exact same thing (albeit with slightly less weight) in DL only competition two weekends ago… sucked big time
So then, after all that, why wasn’t I informed what a fucking ZJ is?
^^Fuck me, I got it now. Damn I’m slow when school is out for summer.
The going rate for a BJ in my town is equivalent to a couple of beers, or one beer and a kebab.
Hey Justin
Programming question for you
This is what I’m doing, if you think I need to change it up any advice is appreciated.
Mon
Power Snatch 6×2
Volume squat 3×5
Linear Bench/ Linear press A/B
BJJ drilling 30-40 mins.
Weds
Power Clean 5×3
Front Squat
Linear Press/ bench A/B
BJJ 2 hours
Friday
Push Jerk
Intensity Squat
Linear bench
Deads, week 1 intensity, week 2 rack pull, week 3 speed deads and week 4 RDL or SLD
Sat – BJJ 2-3 hours depending
Sun – open mat technical sparring 1 hour.
Accessory: Pull-ups, Chins, Dips, Row, GHR.
Conditioning: BJJ sparring (for mat conditioning) and sub 10 min workouts on a Monday and Friday, or Monday and Saturday depending.
Question is at the start of the month I need to hit an intensity dead and will look for a 3 rep pb as you suggested. The following week is rack pulls, should I be hitting 3×5 and pushing them in linear fashion then switch to a heavy triple once that’s ran it’s course? For the speed deads I’ve found varied advice from using 70-80% and also much less from 50>75%, in your experience is there a percentage that should be used pretty consistently, and also if the intensity dead isn’t a PB should I then decrease the speed deads the following week. Also, for the RDL (deload) should I run it just the same as you suggested a couple of days back on the site?
Muchos Gracias
Friday
Bench/press a/b sorry.
Cheers.
@NolanPower
A patty melt is sort of like a cheeseburger.